HIRE A PHOTOGRAPHER

Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute elects a new President and six judges In his opening remarks, the President of the Assembly, H. E. Mr. Sidiki Kaba (Senegal), called on all States to work towards the universal ratification of the Rome Statute and the integration of its norms into national legal systems. He underscored the link between State cooperation and the Court’s effectiveness, credibility and independence. President Kaba concluded by saying that if a recession of mass crimes results in progressive inactivity at the Court, “We would then have announced the dawn of a new hope for humanity.”…

H.E. David Dondua, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. The visit of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, H.E. David Dondua to the Kingdom of the Netherlands On November 28-29, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, H.E. David Dondua visited Netherlands. In the framework of the visit, David Dondua met with the deputy Director of Political Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Mr. Pieter Jan Kleiweg de Zwaan. During the meeting, the sides discussed ongoing and future cooperation between the Netherlands and Georgia, actual issues related to Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration, the…

On the picture H.E. Peter Hoekstra and his wife Diane, with Vice President Mike Pence. US Vice-President Mike Pence performed the ceremony to swear in Peter Hoekstra as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands in Washington, DC on December 11. The Vice President congratulated the Holland, Michigan native on Twitter, noting that he knew from serving with Hoekstra in the Congress that “there’s no better man to be in the Netherlands than Pete Hoekstra.” The Ambassador-designate is expected to take up his post in The Hague in January. Peter Hoekstra, U.S. Ambassador-designate to the Netherlands, was born in Groningen and immigrated…

On the picture H.E. Halbe Zijlstra, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The EU’s Foreign Affairs Council today officially decided to proceed with Permanent Structured Cooperation in defence (PESCO). The Netherlands is among the 25 EU member states taking part. Following this decision, 17 specific projects can be fleshed out in early 2018. The Netherlands will participate in 7 of these 17 initial projects, including initiatives in the fields of logistics, medical capabilities, maritime demining, cyber security and radio communication. A good balance is being struck between short- and long-term projects. The long-term projects include the programme for modern maritime demining,…

Jean-Claude Juncker and Shinzo Abe – Picture by European Commission. 8 December 2017: Japan and the European Union have finalised a paramount free trade agreement that covers 600 million people, and almost a third of the global economy. Japan and the EU traded roughly $140 billion of goods in 2016 according to EU statistics. The EU stated that the agreement, which won preliminary approval in July, shall enhance support more than 600,000 jobs in the bloc that are tied to exports to Japan. Another half a million EU workers are employed by Japanese companies.Together, the EU and Japan account for…

US Administration under President Donald Trump has finally taken the step to recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, which reflects a reality that the latter city is the seat of Israel’s government and that, for the Jewish state, Jerusalem will always be its capital. Already in 1995, Congress adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act, urging the federal government to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem and to recognise that that city is Israel’s capital. The latter act passed Congress by an overwhelming bipartisan majority and was reaffirmed by a unanimous vote of the US Senate only six months ago. Yet, for over 20 years, every previous American…

Queen Mathilde of the Belgians was given the award in the presence of NRW’s Premier Armin Laschet – Picture by Belgian Monarchy. Friday, 8 December 2017, Düsseldorf, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany: HM Queen Mathilde of the Belgians was in Düsseldorf, capital of the German state of North-Rhine Westphanlia, to receive a German special award for her work in sustainable development (Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitspreis). She was chosen for “her commitment to social and humanitarian projects”, through the Queen Mathilde Fund and UNICEF in particular. In her allocution, the Queen called for young people to be given special consideration. The Queen gave a short speech during the ceremony. “The…

Stéphane Dion, Chrystia Freeland and Dan Costello – Picture by EU. Monday, 4 December 2017, Brussels: The first meeting of the EU-Canada joint ministerial committee took place in Brussels. EU-Canada bilateral relationship The committee agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the EU and Canada. The cooperation has entered a new era with the provisional application of the strategic partnership agreement (SPA) since 1 April 2017 and of the comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA) since 21 September 2017. The committee discussed in particular how to step up security and defence cooperation in areas such as crisis management and security, cyber security and responding to hybrid threats. The EU and Canada also committed to working…

On the picture Tatiana and H.E. Willys Delvalle at the National Day of Panama. By Roy Lie A Tjam. On 21 November 2017, The Ambassador of the Republic of Panama, H.E. Willys Delvalle and Mrs Tatiana Delvalle, invited fellow ambassadors, members of the business community, Dutch civil servants, friends of Panama, the Panamanian community, representatives of the International organisations and various others to come to Hotel Marriott in The Hague to celebrate Panama’s 114th year of Independence with him. It was an exuberant gathering witch included an ongoing video presentation of Panama accompanied by (appropriate) Panamanian music. Tatiana, the spouse…